Kings GM Monte McNair explains trade deadline inactivity: ‘We want to see this group grow’
Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair is working to find a delicate balance between achieving the organization’s stated goal of ending a historic 16-year playoff drought while also setting his team up to contend for years to come.
That manifested at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline with McNair deciding against making any significant moves. Instead of pushing all his chips in on landing another substantial piece — like the Phoenix Suns did with the addition of Kevin Durant or the Dallas Mavericks with Kyrie Irving — McNair surveyed the landscape and preferred the status quo.
“We’ve said it from day one, but making the playoffs is very important, and it’s our stated short-term goal,” McNair said at a news conference Friday at Golden 1 Center. “At the same time, we’re also making sure that we’re going to be here for a long time. We’re happy with where the group is and we’ll continue to let them grow here.”
The Kings (31-23) head into Friday and Saturday’s games against the Mavericks as the No. 3 seed in a competitive Western Conference. The sixth- and 11th-place teams are separated by just five games, and a slew of playoff hopefuls competing with Sacramento made moves to bolster their rosters ahead of Thursday’s deadline.
But McNair decided against making major changes to the team’s core, noting he wants his current group to continue to grow from the looming tests of a competitive stretch run in the regular season and, potentially, a franchise-altering playoff berth.
“We looked at moves that may help us in the short term and help solidify that,” McNair said. “But at the same time, what this group’s done — we have guys that have been in and out of the rotation that we think can help us out. I think we have a lot of depth already, and guys that have already proven they can help us.
“The continuity of the group is something we haven’t had as much of. We’ve had a lot of turnover lately, and now that we’ve had success, we think that (continuity) can be a big part of our stretch run as well.”
To McNair’s point, the Kings are in their first season under coach Mike Brown. And they are a year removed from adding All-Star center Domantas Sabonis at last season’s deadline in the swap for Tyrese Haliburton, who was recently named an All-Star for the first time with the Indiana Pacers. McNair moved a protected first-round pick in the deal for shooting guard Kevin Huerter and drafted Keegan Murray with the No. 4 overall selection last June.
Murray has been a revelation, winning back-to-back Western Conference Rookie of the Month awards while making history with his shooting. He ranked third in NBA history in made 3s through his first 40 games and is Sacramento’s leading shooter from distance at 41.4%. The Kings rank seventh in the NBA in 3s made and first in overall points.
Point guard De’Aaron Fox on Friday was named to his first All-Star game as an injury replacement. Fox leads the NBA in clutch scoring with 128 points inside the final five minutes of games with the scoring margin within five points.
The only move the Kings made around the deadline was the addition of forward Kessler Edwards, 22, from the Brooklyn Nets, a developmental wing the team believes could develop into a quality defender and 3-point shooter. Edwards was a second-round pick in 2021 out of Pepperdine and has appeared in just 14 games this season, hitting just six of his 24 shots and two of his 12 from 3.
Bigger picture, the Kings have not been a good defensive team for bulk of the season. They head into Friday’s game ranked 24th in defensive rating (114.9), but they have been better from a rankings perspective in their last 15 games, ranking 16th at 115.9.
McNair was asked about the team’s defense and his decision not to address that issue with a defense-first player at the deadline.
“I think we, defensively, look, we know we need to be better,” McNair said. “I would say we need to be better offensively, too. And I think we can on both sides. ... I think we’ve been better (defensively) in the middle part of the season, but we know we’re gonna need to be even better, especially with what our schedule looks like going forward.
“But we think the guys here have already shown the ability to do it. We need to be a little more consistent, but Mike and his staff have done a great job.”
There was speculation throughout the NBA the Toronto Raptors might go into rebuilding mode by trading forward Pascal Siakam or OG Anunoby, either of whom could conceivably help Sacramento’s defense while also bringing a level of star power to the roster. It was reported by the San Francisco Chronicle the Golden State Warriors rebuffed the Raptors’ asking price of multiple players and draft picks for Anunoby.
Toronto, in turn, made an addition at the trade deadline by acquiring center Jakob Poeltl from the San Antonio Spurs, a move indicating the team is trying to win this season rather than sell off its pieces for the future.
Whether or not a similar deal was out there for the Kings is unknown, but based on McNair’s comments, he wasn’t eager to make a move that might have required losing Murray and multiple draft picks with a short-term goal in mind.
“We know what our long-term goals are,” McNair said. “Certainly, we want to make the playoffs. Longer term, we want to become a contending team in the West.”
